There is available an apparatus capable of implementing various functions by use of a probe. The probe is used for various application objects; however, the probe is often used typically for an object of measuring the volt-ampere characteristic of a transistor formed on a semiconductor integrated circuit, or for an object of causing a foreign matter on a specimen under observation to be adsorbed to the probe for removal. The probe described as above is made up so as to be freely movable over a specimen or a specimen base by use of a predetermined driving mechanism, the driving mechanism for the probe, as a whole, being called a probing system.
For example, in Patent document 1, there is disclosed an inspection apparatus provided with a mechanism for removing a foreign matter on the surface of a wafer or a photo mask by use of the probing system in a semiconductor inspection step. With the invention described in Patent document 1, the foreign matter is caused to be adsorbed to the probe by the agency of an electrostatic force generated between the foreign matter and the probe, and thereafter, the probe with the foreign matter adsorbed thereto is moved outside the surface of the wafer to be thereby removed. Detection of a position of the foreign matter is made by use of a laser-scanning microscope. Thereby, foreign matters one by one can be reliably removed while inhibiting damage on the surface of the wafer.
Further, in Patent document 2, there is disclosed a foreign matter removal apparatus provided with an electron microscope, for removal of a foreign matter from a semiconductor wafer, and a stencil-mask, respectively. The foreign matter removal apparatus disclosed in Patent document 2 is provided with a canti-lever of an atomic force microscope (AFM), serving as a probe, whereupon a foreign matter is adsorbed to the probe by the agency of a shear force occurring by causing the canti-lever to be in contact with a foreign matter in a functional region (a region acting as a circuit) on a specimen, and the foreign matter is irradiated with a laser beam, or a converging ion beam outside the functional region after the foreign matter is removed to the outside of the functional region to thereby firmly fix, or remove the foreign matter. For detection of a position of the foreign matter, use is made of an SEM, or an optical microscope, and if the size of the foreign matter is on the order of nanometer, the SEM is used, while if the size of the foreign is on the order of micrometer, the optical microscope is used. Because the bond strength of the foreign matter, by the agency of the shear force, is greater than electrostatic adsorption, even a foreign matter that is firmly fixed onto the specimen can be removed with certainty.